Ministry of Planning to launch Jordan Aid Information Management System

AMMAN (JT) -- Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation will soon launch the Jordan Aid Information Management System to provide a platform on all ongoing development projects and programmes funded through foreign aid.

According to a statement from the ministry, donors, international organizations and financing institutions will have access to a transparent system on the financial and technical assistance they provide, which ensures that there is no duplication of efforts in projects funded by them.

The new system was developed with the support of the European Union and UNDP, as well as donor missions in Jordan.

During the first annual conference of the International Aid Transparency Initiative, which was held in The Hague on October 20-21, Planning and International Cooperation Minister Suhair Al-Ali highlighted the ministry's efforts in boosting transparency on donor assistance, saying that establishing effective dialogue with the donor community has helped donors to understand Jordan's development priorities and the key challenges that the country is facing.

"In order to achieve more dialogue, the ministry established government-donor coordination working groups in 10 priority sectors, where relevant ministries and donors meet to discuss developments in these sectors and the financial and technical support needed ," Al-Ali said.

Stating that Jordan was to attract large amounts of foreign aid to the national budget, she attributed the increasing aid to donors' recognition of the progress the Kingdom has made in developing its management capacity and financial accountability.

According to ministry figures, around 46 per cent of the grants committed by donors in 2009 is in the form of direct budget support, standing at JD259 million ($365 million).

Al-Ali, a key speaker at "The Demand for Aid Information", stressed the importance of aid transparency and predictability for both recipient and donor countries, saying that it is crucial for donor countries to accommodate recipient countries' national priorities, and respond to their needs.

"Governments need to be in the driver seat as far as national priorities are concerned, an ensure that aid is channeled to priority areas," she said.

The International Aid Transparency Initiative was launched at the Accra High Level Forum in September 2008 and is regarded as a further step in responding to the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness objectives of accountability and predictability.

The initiative aims at making information about aid more transparent to better track what aid is being used for and what it is achieving.